thumb|1925 portrait by [[John St Helier Lander of the Prince of Wales (later Edward VIII) in a Fair Isle jumper]]
Fair Isle (/fɛəraɪ̯l/) is a traditional knitting style used to create patterns with multiple colours. It is named after Fair Isle, one of the Shetland Islands. Fair Isle knitting gained popularity when the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) wore Fair Isle jumpers in public in 1921. Traditional Fair Isle patterns have a limited palette of five or so colours, use only two colours per row, are worked in the round, and limit the length of a run of any particular colour.
Some people use the term "Fair Isle" to refer to any colourwork knitting where stitches are knitted alternately in various colours, with the unused colours stranded across the back of the work, but this is inaccurate. The term "stranded colourwork" is applicable for the generic technique, and the term "Fair Isle" is reserved for the characteristic patterns of Shetland.
Other techniques for knitting in colour include intarsia, slip-stitch colour (also known as mosaic knitting).
Technique
thumb|Fair Isle knitwear in [[Shetland Museum]]
Basic two-colour Fair Isle requires no additional techniques beyond the basic knit stitch: the purl stitch is not used if the garment is knit in the round. At each knit stitch, there are two available "active" colours of yarn; one is drawn through to make the knit stitch, and the other is simply held behind the piece, carried as a loose strand of yarn behind the just-made stitch. To avoid "loose" strands larger than 3-5 stitches, the yarn not in use can be "caught" by the yarn in use without this being seen on the front of the work. Knitters who are comfortable with both English style and Continental style knitting can carry one colour with their right hand and one with their left, although it is also possible to simply use two different fingers for the two colours of yarn and knit both using the same style.
See also
- Gumbys
References
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